Mathew Johnson

India’s roadside beverage market is unimaginably massive, but also unimaginably price-sensitive. A chai wala cannot pay ₹2 extra for a fancy “eco-friendly” cup. His margins don’t allow it. So for decades, we were stuck with LDPE-coated cups: cheap, plastic-lined, non-recyclable… but inevitable. ITC took their premium barrier-coating technology normally used for high-end packaging and engineered it down for the lowest-cost buyer in India. It’s called the FiloBev Mini a cup engineered specifically for the roadside economy: - Fully recyclable - Industrially compostable & soil-biodegradable - PFAS- and fluorine-free - Globally compliant (US FDA, German BfR) - Still cheaper than the toxic alternative I didn’t even know this existed until I read an interview with ITC leadership in The Economic Times. The question I had was, why did ITC even enter this space? They realised that you cannot shame a customer into sustainability. And you definitely cannot guilt a low-income seller into changing behaviour. There’s only one real solution: Make the sustainable option cheaper and better than the toxic one. But doing that at scale is extremely hard. Making a cup is easy. Making a cup that: • holds hot liquid, • doesn’t leak, • contains zero plastic, • uses a water-based barrier coating, • passes global safety tests, • AND still costs pennies… That’s what creates a moat. And according to ITC’s annual report, the product is already gaining traction because it solves the toughest Indian equation: compliance vs. cost. For the chai vendor, the choice is no longer affordability or legality. He gets both. This is what people mean when they say India’s biggest business opportunities lie at the bottom of the pyramid. Solve for the poorest consumer → unlock an entire market. Individually, low-income consumers spend little. Collectively, they are a demand engine bigger than most formal sectors. ITC didn’t build a cup for cafés. They built it for the chai stall. And once you solve for the lowest rung, every rung above it adopts the solution automatically. That’s how markets explode. This is exactly how: Nirma beat Surf Excel by making a ₹3 detergent. Jio digitised India by making data cheaper Bisleri grew through the ₹10 bottle, not the premium SKUs. Win the bottom → win the pyramid → win the nation. And Then There’s the Margin Game Solve for the smallest margin → dominate the largest segment. If you’re comfortable with tiny margins, you can serve huge volumes and once scale kicks in, the entire category bends around your cost structure. This is how: Dmart became India’s most efficient retailer with 2–4% margins. Walmart built a global empire on “everyday low prices.” Maruti Suzuki captured 40%+ of India’s car market by pricing for the masses. Small margins = high volume = unbeatable market position. And i think these are the stories worth learning from. #Economics #India #Startup #business #ITC

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Why did Zomato switch from the Multi-Vendor Category in the early stage? **The biggest problem was inventory mismatch.** Even the founder of Zomato pointed out that inventory management in grocery was one of the toughest challenges in early experiments. Because food delivery and grocery marketplaces are completely different games. Restaurants already have: • Ready raw materials • Controlled menus • Predictable inventory But in multi-vendor retail marketplaces: • Thousands of SKUs • Real-time stock changes • Manual inventory at local stores • Zero tech integration Which leads to: ❌ Order cancellations ❌ Out-of-stock products ❌ Poor customer experience So many companies moved toward inventory-heavy commerce models. - Bigbasket, Grofers - Warehouses. - Heavy capital. And to solve the delivery time, they moved from warehouse to dark warehouse - Blinkit, BB Now, Zepto - Darkwarehouse This is how Grocery Delivery evolves from store to darkstore delivery. But something interesting happened in the last few years. Two major shifts changed the ecosystem: 1️⃣ COVID accelerated digital awareness Local retailers started using POS systems and digital billing. 2️⃣ Quick commerce forced retailers to become more organised Inventory awareness became survival. Which means something important. The problem that once broke the multi-vendor model is now becoming solvable. And the opportunity is huge. Because everyone in commerce wants the same thing: ⚡ Quick delivery 🛍 More variety 💰 Better price But with an asset-light model. -The model is good. -The gap is real. The real challenge has always been execution. At Online Dekho, we focused exactly on that. -Not theory. -Execution. We already generated: 📈 ₹50+ Lakhs GMV 📍 From just one local market 📍 Within 2–3 km radius Which proves something important: When inventory integration + local/Supermarket vendors + delivery network work together. The marketplace model becomes very powerful. Instead of building warehouses, We focus on: ⚡ Retailer integration ⚡ Vendor network ⚡ Quick local delivery ⚡ Wider variety from multiple stores ⚡ Better price through local competition Creating a balanced, asset-light quick commerce model. The next commerce revolution may not come from more warehouses. It may come from better integration of the stores that already exist. And that’s what we’re building with Online Dekho. #QuickCommerce #StartupIndia #Marketplace #RetailTech #Founders #InvestorOpportunity

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The IPO Illusion: When "Public" Means "Pre-Sold to the Elite" Ever wonder why IPOs feel less like a town hall and more like an exclusive club invite? Take Lenskart.com's upcoming splash: 75%+ locked for anchors (read: MFs & PE exits), a measly 10% for us retail folks, and a valuation screaming "momentum play" over "growth story." It's not a scam—it's just capitalism's clever sleight of hand. Promoters cash out via institutions, funds prop it up for 6 months, then poof—lock-in ends and retail catches the falling knife. Quick Reality Check (in 4 bites): IPOs aren't public anymore—they're whispered deals in 5-star lounges. The "public offer" is a regulatory checkbox, not a democratic fundraiser. Your MF? Momentum chaser, not guardian angel. They’ll bid aggressively in anchors, prop the stock for 6 months, then exit at the first sign of weakness. Tweets/LinkedIn posts = echo chamber. Emails to your fund? Actual ripples. Even if ignored, it creates a paper trail. SEBI tracks complaints. Enough noise forces AMCs to justify bad bets. The real power is in allocation, not price. If 90% of the IPO is locked with institutions, retail is just a liquidity provider for their exit. We get crumbs; they jet to Switzerland/ Bali/ Phuket. Pro tip: Fire off that objection email to your AMC today. IPOs aren't fairy tales – they're balance sheets. Invest in the business, not the buzz. Lenskart's a beast – dominant, profitable, poised. But this IPO's more exit party than growth engine. At 242x P/E, it's priced for perfection; any hiccup and retail catches the fall. What's your take—still chasing the hype, or time to rewrite the rules? Drop your IPO war stories below. #sirabhinavjain #IPO #InvestingWisdom #RetailRevolt #FinanceTruths #LenskartIPO #specs #community #D2CSuccess #ValuationCheck #InvestorWisdom #personalopinions #feedback

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Everyone in consumer tech is fighting the same battle right now, BUT then I came across something slightly different. An app calling itself India’s Freshness App. Naturally, I was curious. It’s called LoveLocal, built by Akanksha Hazari. And instead of giant dark stores and warehouses, the idea is simple: What if your fruits and vegetables came from the neighborhood stores that already sell the freshest produce? Because if you think about it, that’s literally how most Indian households have bought vegetables for decades. Local vendors restocking fresh produce every morning. Somewhere along the way, we optimized for speed and quietly forgot about freshness. What LoveLocal is doing is interesting. I was listening to Akanksha Hazari talk about this on a podcast recently, and one thing stood out: Food quality and nutrition are everyday household decisions. And sometimes the people who understand those problems the best are the ones building solutions for them. Which makes this even more interesting because LoveLocal is a women-led tech startup solving something every Indian family deals with daily. It’s currently available in Mumbai, so if you’re there and have used it, I’d love to know how your experience has been. 😊

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Year 1959: ₹80 Loan. Year 2026: ₹1,600+ Crore Revenue. Total Employees: ZERO. Yes, you read that right. One of India’s most iconic #FMCG brands operates without a single traditional “employee.” In a small chawl in Mumbai’s Girgaum area, Jaswantiben and her six friends — women with limited formal education — wanted to do something to support their households. The only skill they truly had was cooking, Especially rolling papads. With just an ₹80 loan from a social worker, they bought basic raw materials and prepared four packets of papads on their building’s terrace. That humble beginning marked the birth of Lijjat Papad. After a year of relentless effort, their total sales were only about ₹6,196. What made Lijjat unique was its structure — there were no “employees.” The seven women were co-owners, and profits were shared equally. Even today, around 45,000 women are co-owners, and earnings are distributed fairly among them. Everyone is respectfully addressed as “Behen” (sister), reinforcing a strong sense of belonging and dignity. No matter where you eat Lijjat Papad in India, the taste feels the same. This consistency comes from a centralized processing of raw materials like lentils and spices. Every morning, these materials are distributed to women who roll the papads at home. In the early days, marketing happened purely through word of mouth. The quality was so good that anyone who tried it once naturally became a repeat customer. A major turning point came in the 1990s with their iconic television advertisement — “Kurram Kurram… Lijjat Papad!” This catchy phrase brought the brand into millions of Indian homes and became deeply embedded in popular culture. The presentation was truly ahead of its time. From enjoying Lijjat Papad made by our mothers in childhood to experiencing the exact same taste in our twenties, this journey is more than nostalgia — it is one of the greatest quality-control masterclasses in the FMCG industry. While many big brands struggle to maintain consistency even for a few years, Lijjat has preserved its taste for over six decades. Lijjat Papad is not a listed company with fluctuating share prices. It is a co-operative society, not a private corporate entity. When people are treated not just as workers but as owners, they nurture the business like a family. This philosophy transformed Lijjat from a simple papad brand into a timeless legacy. Running a ₹1,600-crore enterprise with 45,000 women and no traditional employees stands as one of the world’s most powerful case studies in leadership and management. In recognition of their extraordinary contribution to trade, industry, and women’s empowerment, the Government of India honored the organization with the Padma Shri in 2021. Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat remains a true inspiration — a woman worthy of immense respect for her vision, courage, and the dignity she created for thousands of others. Image Credit: StartupbyDOC #women #inspiration

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